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No stranger to the industry — prior to launching Orli, he worked for a large hotel chain in Los Angeles — Maxwell realized that instead of working within the boundaries of traditional, big name brands, he envisioned something smaller and more personalized, tailored to the kind of experience he himself preferred. "I wanted to create a new way to stay for younger travelers like myself and Hailey who are looking to experience something where the stay itself has a lot more technology infused into it," he says. Particularly, he appreciated contactless elements that remove the traditional lobby setup, taking notes from the perks that come with homestay platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo: self check-in, electronic messaging, and the ability to add on different services with the touch of your fingertips rather than by consulting a concierge behind a desk. But unlike those apps, he wanted to elevate the guest experience to provide a more consistent standard of quality that the conventional hotel stay offers, plus amenities and services that aren't an intrinsic part of a homestay reservation. "When you combine those two, you get something truly special that Orli was hoping to achieve with its pilot project in La Jolla," Maxwell says. Guests can then choose to engage with Orli staff as much or as little as they prefer, with the option of either more traditional in-person services or messaging via a web-based app. It's this out-of-the-box logic that makes Orli both completely fresh and totally commonsense; the ultimate hospitality "well, duh." Surprisingly, Draper Avenue wasn't the first choice of location for the pair's maiden hotel venture. "It was sort of serendipitous finding this property because we were not looking in La Jolla at all," says Hailey, who remembers thinking the seaside village that is the Waitts' hometown would certainly be out of their price range. "But, when this came on the market and it was historic — and I'm a massive history nerd — we just walked in and both of us were like, 'is is a really incredible property. is could be awesome.'" Historic, indeed. e home, built in 1913 by famed modern architect Irving Gill with landscape design by the equally renowned Kate Sessions, sits in an area that Hailey calls a "kind of Irving Gill quadrangle" that includes the La Jolla Women's Club, the Bishop's School, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (the former Ellen Browning Scripps residence). Its historic status presented its own challenges to be sure, as the property was updated for almost exactly two full years to become Orli, but the result is nothing short of extraordinary. Execution of the Orli design vision came at the deft hands of Maddie Lord, principal designer at ML Design Co., who also happens to be a longtime personal friend of Hailey and Maxwell. >> Jordan Gafa, Hailey Waitt, Maxwell Waitt, and Maddie Lord in the courtyard at Orli @ranchandcoast RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE AUGUST 2023 75